Generally Impressed With Riffs
[Cover artwork by Old Hag] When I initially realized that Arckanum’s first album after a long hiatus—and, technically, its breakup—would be released on All Hallows’ Eve, I devised this rather cutesy and far-fetched idea to compare the entire album to …
[Album artwork / art direction by Joseph Niet / The Creative Corporation] Offering up a textbook definition of “holy crap, time flies,” Black Sabbath’s swan song, 13, was released 13 years ago, on June 7th, 2013. In a curious move, …
If you’re just now catching up, well, we’re just now catching up. Seth Buttnam and I (plus one uninvited guest) are rounding up some of our favoritest grindcore (or grind-adjacent) releases of the past however many months, since we (read: …
[Album artwork by Truls Espedal] It’s 17 albums for Enslaved now, comprising a discography I find exceptionally challenging to wrap my arms around. What’s going on here? Does anyone else forget that the relatively rote and by-the-numbers Frost is actually …
Well, here’s a sentence one doesn’t imagine has been written before: Aeons of Satan’s Reign is a love letter. Lower that skeptical eyebrow back to resting position, friends, because in all honesty, that’s exactly what …
Originally written by Erik Highter. How long is too long? Back in 1968, Iron Butterfly’s “In A Gadda Da Vida” took up an album side with 17 minutes of what most would call aimless noodling. …
Originally written by Chris Redar Carnivorous Urge To Kill is a re-issue of the 2002 effort from Baton Rouge death metal act Suture. According to the press kit, there was “interest in the material.” Odd choice of …
This article was originally written by Last Rites Old Guard member Ian Chainey With more new metal releases than ever before, ‘heads are forced to acknowledge some rad records shoot between their legs as if …
Originally written by Dean Brown. “The power of population is so superior to the power of the earth to produce subsistence for man, that premature death must in some shape or other visit the human …
Originally written by Chris Redar Experimental music has a tendency to be an ‘all-or-nothing’ proposition- not necessarily in the execution department, but as a final product. It’s either ridiculously engaging, or it’s simply ridiculous. A …
Our friends, coworkers, and subway-squinters-at-our-patches all say the same thing: “Metal? You like scary music.” Like every cut pumping through our cans is nothing but a game of Candyman. To them, we’re frittering away our …
All bands (well, most) strive to carve a unique identity for themselves, hoping to notch an eternal scar in their little thread of history. Few succeed. Fewer still can boast that they carved their name …
